<^--^oo<^^e5^-5

PAPILIO
Deyoted to Lepidoptera Exclusiyely.

Vol. IV, No.

2. FEBRUARY,

1884.

Subscription

Two

Dollars per

Annum

(Ten Numbers)

-EDITED BY

EXTG-EISTE

3n^- .^^u^:eic>i<t.

PHILADELPHIA:
Hazzard

^'

&

Cresson, Entomological Printers.

No. 55 North Seventh Street

1884.

PAPILIO.
A Journal, devoted to Leipidoptera exclusively, published monthly, July and Exchanges of Entomological Price, |2.oo per annum. August excepted. writings with societies and authors throughout the world are earnestly desired. Advertisements will be inserted on the covers of Papilio at the rate of $i a year for 6 lines or less. Longer advertisments may be contracted for at equally Back numbers low rates. Sample copies forwarded on receipt of 21 cents. supplied. All communications and remittances should be addressed to Eugene M. Aaron,
Lock Box
2500, Philadelphia, Pa.

Dealer
Box
Complete

H. K. MORRISON, in Insects of all Orders,

35,

Morganton, Burke Co., N. C.

and Coleoptera, from

collections, particularly rich in Lepidoptera

:

the following desirable localities

Nevada, Key 'West, Fla., I.,ouisiana, Idaho. have at present many rare Lepidoptera from Arizona, and large series of Coleoptera from Arizona, Washington Territory, California, Montana, and North Carolina. Single specimens at reasonable rates, and series offered on very low terms. Especial care given to making collections to order in any group: larvae, Micro-lepidoptera, Galls and gall insects, and families to which, in general, little attention is paid. Lists and full particulars in regard to Collections bought. Entomological material on haad sent on application.
I

A. W. PuTMAN Cramer, 51 Douglas Street, Brooklyn, E. D., wishes to exchange with collectors of Lepidoptera.

curing,

The undersigned is desirous of proby purchase or otherwise, the ^geriadcp, Cossidcr, Hepialido' and
Plusias of the world.
Asiatic, African

p. O. box 25^1, wishes to arrange with collectors in all parts of the world for the collection of Lepidoptera. Will also exchange.

B.

Neumoegen,

New York City,

For Sale. Check List of the Macrolepidoptera of America north

of Mexico (Diumals, Sphfngidae, Sesiidae, Zygaenidae, Noctuida?, and GeoPrice, 50 cents. metridas). Address, Entomological Society, 9 Broadway, E. D., Brooklyn.

and South American forms much desired. Hv. Edwards,

Wallack' s Theatre,

Neiv York.

A
nets.

7iew disinfectant for Entomological CabiThe material is in the form of cones,

cast

around a pin, so that they are ready for immediate use; are clean, and occupy very
space.

Nat. Size.

little

They

are highly

recommended

by Drs. Leconte and Horn, and Messrs. Hy. Edwards, E. T. Cre.sson, and E. M. Aaron. Price per hundred, |i.oo; postage, 10 cents. Entomological Forceps. Designed more particularly for Lepidoptera, but useful for all orders. Price, nickel-plated, I2.50. Sent by mail, on receipt Blake & Co., 55 North Seventh Street, Philadelphia. of price.

PAPILIO.
Devoted Exclusively to kpidoptera.
Edited by
1
i

Vol.

^lTkB^;too'

Philadelphia, February, 1884.

4.

^^

THE LEPIDOPTEROUS GENUS DATANA.

Bv Henry Edwards.
(Read before
It is
tlie

Liiinean Society of

New

York, December,

1883.)

purpose this evening briefly to call the attention of the sogenus of moths well known to entomologists and collectors, the habits of which, however, as far as a close study of the various All persons species is concerned, appear to be but little understood. accustomed to notice the objects of nature are familiar with the caterpillars of these moths, which are found in spring and summer in large numbers upon the terminal branches of our oak, hickory and walnut trees. They are generally bunched together in a somewhat compact mass, and on being disturbed throw themselves around in a singular and somewhat ludicrous manner, jerking their extremities from side to side, and bending the body so that the head and anal extremities meet They are mostly blackish or brown in color, with over the back.
ciety to a
stripes of yellow or white, variously disposed in the different species.

my

The

destruction they cause

is

terrible,

it

being by no means an uncom-

occurrence to see whole trees denuded of their foliage by the athave found as many as 130 I tacks of these pernicious caterpillars. while others were scatmasses, bunch-like their of individuals in one The depredations they comtered over various portions of the tree. mit are therefore readily understood. It may be said that on the young larvce being hatched from a bundle of smooth, shining, whitish eggs, which are laid by the parent generally on the under side of a twig or stem, they commence their work of destruction by devouring only the softer parts and the lower side of the leaf, gradually, however, consuming all except the stem. When fully fed they descend the tree independently of each other, enter the ground, and transform to a smooth pitchy brown chrysalis, not enclosed, as a rule, in a cocoon, though it would appear that the insect if not quite deep enough in the soil has the power to protect itself from the inclemencies and changes of tern-

mon

There is only one brood, the insect perature by spinning a thin web. state, and emerging as a perfect chrysalis passing- the winter in the moth in July and August. The imagines have the wings of various shades of chestnut or chocolate brown, with a general resemblance as
four or five transregards their pattern and system of markings, viz. one or two discal color, ground than the shade darker verse lines of a dots and a square, oblong, or triangular mark of the same shade upon Common though the caterpillars are, the perthe disc of the thorax. fect insect is very rarely met with, and it is only by raising them in confinement in large numbers that the species can be obtained for the
:

cabinet, or for purposes of closer study.

My

friend Mr. S. L. Elliot,

has been for the past three years devoting a large portion of his time to the breeding of these insects, and it is to his labor and observation that I am largely indebted for the substance of this paper. The genus Datana is of rather wide distribution, occurring as far north as Canada, southward to Texas, and west as far as the borders of
of this
city,
It appears, however, to thin out as we get towards our Nebraska. northern boundary, and is by no means abundant in Texas, two species only as yet having been reported from that State, while it certainly At the time of the disdoes not occur west of the Rocky Mountains. work on the " Injuwhose Harris, Thaddeus entomologist, tinguished rious Insects of Massachusetts" was published in 1852, only one species was described, but Harris says, "I have seen on the oak, the birch, the black walnut and the hickory trees, swarms of caterpillars slighdy

differing

from those described, but their postures and habits appeared Whether they were all different species, or only varieof food, I have ties of the well-known species arising from difference arose in Harris' naturally which doubt The ascertain. to not been able mind is now, through the careful investigations of Mr. Elliot and others, from each set at rest, and no less than eleven species totally distinct
to be the same.
'
'

other,

now known

and bearing unmistakable characters peculiar to themselves, are Four of these were described by Grote and Robto us. inson about thirteen years since; one by Walker, one by Drury, and one by Graef The remainder are new species, and are at present unOne of these new species I desire to bring before you this described.

am quite aware that there are many entomologists who I evening. want of a better will maintain that these varied forms are what, for the that these statement the and "varieties." term, they are pleased to call or other climatic some or to food-plant, the to are due slight differences But such objections fall circumstances, will by no means surprise me.
ground in the light of Mr. Elliot's experiments, the caterpillars being changed from one food-plant to another, losing none of their same idencharacters, but producing from generation to generation the And I maintain that however closely allied two or more tical form. them.selves, which species may be, if they possess characters peculiar to
to the


25

cliaracters are

produced and reproduced throuoh

successix^e
its pr()i;eny

broods
exactly

witliout chanoe, the

same thiny always [)roduciny

entitled to rank as a species,
its

similar to

itself,

it is

and not as a variety

I

having- a tendency to return to

as to the origin of these forms.

])arent stock.

say here nothinc^

nay more, it is almost certain that they all sprang from one form, but by the law of development thev have now become, to all purposes necessary for us, as permanent and fixed as any other species can be, and as such they must It would be tedious for me to enter upon a in future be investigated. ha\e brought minute description of the species of this genus, but together for your examination the larvae and perfect insects of many of them, so that vou may for yourselves remark their peculiarities, and At the same time I wish to append to this observe their differences. paper a description of the larval and imago stages of one of the new species of which I ha\'e spoken, which I have called Daiana Drexelii, in honor of Mr. Joseph Drexel, of this city, who has done, and is doing much to foster a love for the study of Entomology amongst us. I may
It is

possible,

monograph of the group, with colored is now in the course ot production by Mr. Elliot and myself, which will, I trust, clear up a good many of the difficulties now surrounding these insects. Such a work
here also state that a complete
all

figures of the species in

their stages,

must occupy a considerable time, but I trust delayed longer than the close of the next summer.
naturally

it

will

not be

L.\rva, full grown. Head almost globose, Drexelii, n. sp. shining, with deep frontal sinus, slightly roughened about Second segment zcholly golden yellow. Body the posterior edges. black, with four distinct, equidistant stripes of citron yellow, the space

Datana

jet black,

between the two dorsal lines being a become conjoiyied, and form a yelloiv
postcj'ior extremity.
feet

little

the widest.

These lines all

blotch

of

irreffiilar

form at

the

and legs, which is It is very shming, segment is jet black, with two protracted points. spiracles are dull The dull. like the head, the rest of the body being legs and thoracic abdominal of the bases swollen the orange, as are also Beneath there is a rather broad and distinct yellow median stripe. feet. The hairs are long, i^w to each segment, dull white, most numerous on
the lateral region.

citron yellow line runs along the base ot the broken at the place of their junction. The anal

Eood-plant,

high-bush huckleberry {facciniiim

Length 1.80 inch. corvmbosiim). Ij^i^^o. Very like that of/?. Ministra. but differing in the following trans\-erse particulars: the primaries of Drexelii have invariably fi\e
lines,

and two darker spots on the disc, while in Ministra only four The color is slightly lines' and a single spot are to be distinguished. Ministra, yellower brown, and the thoracic patch always paler than in the older m as constricted, while its edges are more oblique, and not

26

species.

This

latter character is

very conspicuous

in

the females.

The

posterior spot on the disc of Drexelii always rests on the second trans-

verse

line,

the

first

and second

while the corresponding mark in Ministra is placed between line, or in the field of paler color enclosed by these

two
than

lines.

The

tip of the
It

abdomen,

too,

is

usually darker in Drexelii

must, however, be admitted that it is difficult to define their separate characters in words, but when a large number of specimens are placed side by side, they are apparent to every observer. In the pupa stage there is little difference, but the pupa of Drexelii is always a little larger than that of Ministra, and the spines of the
in Ministra.

cremaster are decidedlv longer.

EUDAMUS TITYRUS,
Thyme Ie

Fabr.,

AND

ITS VARIETIES.

By Eugene M. Aaron.
Papilio Tityrus, Fabr., Syst. Ent.,
p. 532,

No. 382 (1775).

Thyinele Tmolis, Kirby, Cat. Diur. Lep. Var. Proteidcs Zestos, Hiibn.,* Zutriige, 4th
\'ar.

Tityrus, Kirby, Cat. Diur. Lep., p. 571, No. 39 (1871). Papilio Clarus, Cram., Pap. Exot. I, pi. 41, E. F. (1776) Eiidamiis Tinolis, Burm., Rev. Zool., p. 33 (1875).
p. 816,

No. 54 (1877).
616 (1832).

100, p. 9, figs. 615,

p.

Telegonus Zestos, Kirby, Cat. Diur. Lep., Eudamus Oheron, Worthington, Papilio,

574,
I,

No. 29 (1871).
p. 132 (1881).

\'o1.

to

large and interesting Hesperid, Proteides Zestos, Hiibn.,* seems have been entirely overlooked by students of the North America fauna until redescribed by Mr. Worthington under the name of Oberon. It has, however, been in the possession of collectors, as from Florida, I have in my collection a specimen from the collecfor many years. tion of the late Dr. Asa Fitch, which is labelled " Florida, Sept. '53," and the American Entomological Society possesses three specimens, one of which was presented by the late James Ridings prior to 1870. have also received this form from Yucatan; Samana Bay, San DoI mingo; Nassau, Bahama Islands; Matanzas, Cuba; and Sanford, Mr. Worthington describes it irom Marco Island, Florida; Florida. Strangely and HUbner, and Kirby following him, from Surinam. enough Dr. Gundlach fails to mention this in his Catalogue of the Diurnal Lepidoptera of the Island of Cuba (Papilio, Vol. I, p. iii, 18S1); nor does he mention anv s]:)ecies that he could ha\e confused

The

with

it.

Hiibner's description is sufficiently full to identify this species, and his figures of it, as is usually the case with his figures, all that could be
*
I

feel

some doubt

as to the propriety of accrediting this form to Hubner, as

it is

figured in the

4th hundred of the Zutrage, which was published by Carl (lever in 1S32, six years after Hubner's death. The reference in Kirby's Catalogue is erroneous.